Antique Wash Stands

Antique wash stands, the parts and makeup of washstands.

The wash stand cabinet or cupboard fitment is a modern convenience that may be contrived without no great expense and without complicated mechanism. Whether wash stands are built into a recess in a room, or whether they stand independently as a piece of furniture, their form is essentially simple.

Wash Stand Parts

It consists of a cupboard with a central shelf formed of marble or wood covered with glass or a plate of mirror. A looking-glass forms a panel at the back of this shelf, and similar panels of mirror are fixed to the sides, reflecting light into the interior so that ablutions may never degenerate into twilight gropings in search of toilet appliances. Glass shelves for toilet apparatus may be fitted across the mirrors at the sides or back, and beneath the main shelf that supports the basin there can be a cupboard.

1880 Washstand. Carved, painted and gilded wood; marble top and bowl inset with silver; bronze tap and fittings. It has a water tank in the upper castellated section with a tap. The marble basin, inlaid with silver fish motifs, is fitted with a tap in the form of a bronze animal. The basin swivels so that the dirty water can be tipped into a bucket in the cupboard below.

The doors of this washing cabinet may have bevelled mirrors screwed to their inner sides, to form dressing glasses when they are open. The same construction applies to a recess treated in this manner, though a fitment provides the opportunity for more spacious arrangement. Such extra conveniences as an electric light in the interior, and towel rails fixed to the inside of the doors, may be included without great difficulty, and when the doors are closed, painted panels, or curtained glass, conceal the unsightliness of washing appliances.

A corner cupboard can be adapted very easily, and although it would be far simpler to adapt antique wardrobes, they are so scarce that we are only too glad to put them to their original use when we can find them. The washing cabinet gives a lot of practical assistance in the furnishing of a bed-sitting-room, and although there are many ways of elaborating it, it is fundamentally simple.